Our hope through this ministry is simply to bring people into an experiential encounter with Jesus Christ, such that they would be so touched by God’s real presence, they would be compelled to go out and share the Good News with others! We are a grass roots ministry and are not affiliated with any particular parish. We are simply a small group of faithful lay Catholics who love the Lord and the Catholic Church, and have a desire to respond to the call of The New Evangelization.

Awaken Ministry is a monthly outreach currently hosted by various Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of Detroit, MI. The basic format of an Awaken experience is three-fold: praise and worship, the preached Gospel, and Eucharistic Adoration. Each Awaken event begins with upbeat praise and worship music lead by our band and worship leaders, followed by dynamic preaching of the Gospel message, and culminating with a profound experience of Eucharistic Adoration, which is accompanied by more praise and worship music and a time of silent adoration. Key elements such as special lighting and sound, video screens displaying worship imagery and song lyrics, a creatively enhanced environment along with contemporary praise and worship music, are all meant to foster and enhance the worship experience. Following this time of praise, worship, prayer and adoration, there is an opportunity for fellowship and hospitality, where those in attendance can share with one another about what they have just experienced.

There will be an emphasis on kerygmatic preaching, which is what Pope John Paul II described as “the initial ardent proclamation by which a person is one day overwhelmed and brought to the decision to entrust himself to Jesus Christ by faith.” (Catechesi Tradendae, 25) The kerygma goes straight to the heart of the Gospel and is at the core of what awakens initial Christian faith; it refers to the proclamation of the basic outline of the life, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It leads a person to be able to say, “Jesus is Lord!” (Fr. Cantalamessa from Faith In Christ Today And At the Beginning Of The Church from his book the book, Remember Jesus Christ, The Word Among Us Press, 2007)

The mission of Awaken Ministry is born out of words spoken in 1983 by Blessed Pope John Paul II, when while addressing the Latin American Bishops, he said, “The New Evangelization is meant to be new in it’s ardor, new in its methods, and new in it’s expression,” and later in his encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, when he called the Church to “cultivate a lively awareness of Christ’s real presence, both in the celebration of Mass and in the worship of the Eucharist outside Mass; specifically with respect to Eucharistic Adoration, he wrote…“The worship of the Eucharist outside of the Mass is of inestimable value for the life of the Church.”

Through much prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit, Awaken Ministry has been born. May God continue to guide and direct us each and every step of the way, and may everything we do be for the greater honor, glory and praise of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!